1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to costumes with portions that can be animated or articulated while worn such as character heads with a mouth and eyes that can be articulated or moved by a person wearing the head, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing more effective and interactive control over portions of a worn costume that can be articulated with local control by the person wearing the costume and with remote control by wayside or offstage controllers or control systems or a combination thereof.
2. Relevant Background
Actors, performers, or puppeteers wear costumes when they perform as a character such as in a live show, in a parade, in interactive entertainment settings, and in venues that call for a character to walk among and nearby audience members or guests. For example, costumes may include character heads that a performer wears on top of or covering their own head, and such character heads have been designed to allow motion of costume features such as to allow moving the mouth to move in synchronization to an audio output or the performer's voice. In other cases, the eyes may be moved or articulated and/or the eyelids may be opened and closed, and other features may also be moved such as expressive eyebrow movement. Such animation of the costume features and, particularly, of the head or face has been well received by audiences as the articulation or movement helps to bring the character to life and enhances the entertainment experience of the audience members or guests.
In a typical articulated character head, the mouth and eye motions may be provided with motorized motions. A performer may wear sensors on their fingers and their finger movements provide inputs or control signals (e.g., analog input signals) that cause a radio or remote controlled (RC) servo to move the portions of the costume such as to open and close a character's mouth or eyes when the performer moves their fingers. Generally, RC servos are battery powered and each RC servo includes a proportional servo amplifier, a DC motor, and feedback potentiometer within a single case, and a character head will include an RC servo and battery for each feature that can be articulated (e.g., two to five when the mouth, eyes, and eyebrows all move). In addition to control by the performer, RC controllers with joysticks, switches, and knobs similar or equivalent to the controllers used to control hobby cars and planes may be used to remotely control or operate the RC servos so as to allow someone offstage or “wayside” to wirelessly control facial movements or move other costume features by providing real time or live control signals.
Existing techniques for articulating character head and other costume features have proven the creative and technical feasibility and desirability of animating facial and other functions on a wearable costume. Unfortunately, there are a number of drawbacks to the existing costumes that has hindered or slowed their adoption by the entertainment industry. Existing technology is heavily reliant upon the skill and training of the performer wearing the costume or a wayside performer. The performer needs to be a puppeteer as they move their fingers of one hand (such as their dominant hand) to move the mouth in time with an audio track or their own speech and move fingers of their other hand to move the eyes or other features, and, while they are doing such articulation they may also need to be moving their body in a normal manner or even to provide a performance (e.g., puppet the head features while dancing). Such skills may only be found in a small fraction of performers and/or may require significant training, which can increase costs and limit widespread implementation of such costumes. Furthermore, existing wayside control techniques, such as wireless hobby RC transmitters and receivers operate via radio frequency (RF) transmission, which is prone to wireless transmission failure that may result in an unexpected character movement and a bad show.
Another limitation is that the character heads can become heavy as more RC servos are placed within the head. The use of RC servos may provide significant motor noise that limits use of such costumes to settings where the character will not be close to audience members who may hear and be distracted by the noises. The motors used now may also generate heat within the head, which can be an issue for worn costumes. The RC servos are often hobby grade devices, and there are concerns regarding the life and reliability of these devices. Further, the existing controller of the RC servos are typically analog and provide only a proportional rotary motion, which may not be precise or exact enough to replicate mouth or eye movements of a character. Existing costumes with articulated features also often require significant amounts of technician set up prior to each show that further limits adoption of such costumes.
Hence, there remains a need for improved methods and systems for worn costumes with features or portions that can be articulated or moved by a performer wearing the costume and in response to remote control signals or inputs. Preferably, such methods and systems would provide a more reliable and versatile costume with reduced noise, long life, and fidelity of motion.